Rally planned at Confederate memorial set for relocation

Published 3:20 pm, Sunday, August 13, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Protesters are calling on Florida officials to honor a vote to relocate a Confederate monument from public property.

A rally commemorating the victims of violence that followed a white supremacist rally in Virginia was scheduled Sunday evening in Tampa. Organizers planned to gather at a 106-year-old monument depicting Confederate soldiers outside a Hillsborough County government building.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida said members of the Muslim advocacy organization would participate. Similar rallies were scheduled in cities statewide.

County commissioners voted in July to move the monument to a private cemetery. An online petition seeks to replace it with a memorial to Snooty the manatee, who died last month at a Bradenton museum.

The Florida chapter of Save Southern Heritage released a statement blaming news reports about the violence in Virginia for "renewed attacks on Florida's historical assets."